Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch

The Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch is a timber landmark spanning the highway at Eastern View, with a roadworkers' sculpture and plaques beside it. It's an easy roadside pause; the arch alone is a modest sight, so spend a few minutes with the memorial displays if you want the story behind the road. Beach access is also beside the stop, and the arch itself needs no trail approach.

On the visitor side, two bronze roadworkers stand on reddish boulders, with plaques and an information board nearby. The timber span carries the words GREAT OCEAN ROAD. For the classic picture, include the road beneath it so the arch reads as a gateway, and take it from the visitor area rather than the traffic lanes.

Surveying began in 1918 and construction in 1919. About 3,000 returned servicemen built the road with picks, shovels, explosives, wheelbarrows and horse-drawn carts, moving between tent camps as crews worked through difficult coastal terrain. The first section, from Eastern View to Lorne, opened in 1922; the completed road officially opened in 1932. A toll collected at Eastern View helped repay the Great Ocean Road Trust's construction costs and ended when the road was handed to Victoria in 1936.

The Great Ocean Road Trust first erected an arch here in 1939. Its plaques dedicate the road to those who served in the Great War and name Major W. T. B. McCormack, an engineer and key figure in the Trust. The arch has been rebuilt after damage, including the loss of a timber version in the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires; the original plaques were retained.